Live coverage: Cygnus cargo freighter departs space station

The United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral at 7:05 p.m. EDT (2305 GMT) today to send NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft on a seven-year, 4.4-billion-mile mission to rendezvous with Asteroid Bennu and bring a sample of the primordial object back to Earth. Follow the mission in our live journal.

Wrapping up a two-day pursuit since launching from Cape Canaveral, a SpaceX Dragon supply ship arrived at the International Space Station Monday with more than two tons of cargo and experiments. The automated cargo freighter was captured by the station’s robotic arm at 6:25 a.m. EDT (1025 GMT).

A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket lifted off at 7:50 a.m. EDT (1150 GMT) Thursday from pad 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station with NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover.